In short

Having first taken up refereeing in 2002 as a hobby, Sheffield’s Brendan Moore has now established himself as one of snooker’s leading referees during the past few seasons.

Brendan took charge of his first ranking event final back at the 2010 Welsh Open in Newport, before being handed the gloves for his first major at the UK Championship in Telford later that year.

Brendan at the Crucible in 2014

Having officiated further major finals at the Masters and UK Championship since, Brendan fulfilled a lifelong dream in May 2014, when he took charge of the World Championship final at the Crucible Theatre in his home town for the first time in his career.

Early Career

The 2007/8 season saw his involvement increase as he was able to officiate in tournaments such as the Northern Ireland Trophy, Welsh Open and UK Championship.

The highlight however was to come at his home tournament, the World Championship at the Crucible Theatre where he was chosen to officiate for the first time. In doing so he became just the second referee from Sheffield to referee at the tournament and his matches included the opening round clashes between Jamie Cope/Peter Ebdon and Steve Davis/Stuart Bingham, the second round match between Mark King/Peter Ebdon and a quarter-final between Stephen Hendry and Ryan Day.

2008/9

The 2008/9 season again saw Brendan officiate a number of important matches, for the first time being selected to referee overseas in tournaments such as the Bahrain Championship eventually won by Neil Robertson.

Brendan at the 2010 World Championship qualifiers

During the 2009 World Championship he took charge of a thrilling last 16 clash between Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui which saw Hendry produce his best snooker seen for a number of years on the BBC, winning his 1000th frame at the Crucible in the process.

2009/10

The season-opening Shanghai Masters saw Brendan reach a new landmark as he refereed his first ranking event semi-final, that between Liang Wenbo and Shaun Murphy.

He continued to be a presence at the latter stages of the season’s ranking events before he was handed his first final at the Welsh Open in January, won 9-4 by world champion John Higgins against defending champion Ali Carter.

2010/11

Continuing to be heavily involved with the year’s major ranking tournaments, Brendan capped off a memorable year in the best way possible as he was selected to officiate his first major final on the BBC, the UK Championship.

As it would transpire, the final between John Higgins and Mark Williams would prove to be one of the matches of the year and arguably a very early contender for one of the matches of the new decade. Leading 9-5 it appeared as though it would be the Welshman who would get over the line to take his first major title in seven years, but it was not to be as John somehow managed to recover a 9-5 deficit to take his third UK crown on the colours 10-9.

Brendan understandably ranks that match as his most memorable to date and as he has also said, should his future finals be half as special as that one then he can have no complaints!

Later in the season Brendan was also to referee a thriller between Matthew Stevens and Fergal O’Brien at the 2011 World Championship qualifiers before going on to officiate at the Crucible for a fourth successive year.

Brendan at the Crucible in 2011

2011/12

Brendan continued to be a familiar face at the major venues, with the highlight of his season coming at the Crucible Theatre in May as he officiated his first semi-final at the venue, between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Matthew Stevens.

Earlier in the season, Brendan also presided over his first professional maximum break, that of Ricky Walden against Gareth Allen at the PTC10 event in Sheffield.

2012/13

The 2012/13 tournament was to start with a bang for Brendan as not only was he to officiate the final of the 2012 Wuxi Classic, but during that match he was to officiate the second maximum break of his career as Stuart Bingham compiled the break during the sixth frame of his match with Ricky Walden.

Following in the footsteps of John Newton and Lawrie Annandale, Brendan therefore became only the third referee in professional snooker to have refereed a 147 break in a ranking event final.

2013/14

In December 2013, Brendan took charge of his second UK Championship final, this time in York as Neil Robertson defeated Mark Selby 10-7 to complete snooker’s triple crown.

The highlight of his season was to come later however, as he was informed by Tournament Director Mike Ganley at the Players Championship Grand Finals in Preston that he had been chosen to referee his first World Championship final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield for the first time.

Brendan is congratulated by Barry Hearn after the 2014 World Championship final

And so it was Brendan who stepped out on 4-5 May 2014 to officiate the World Championship final between Mark Selby and defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, as Selby won a dramatic final to emulate Neil Robertson in completing the set of snooker’s biggest titles.

For Brendan though, it was all about refereeing not only the most important event on the calendar, but his home town event and completing his own snooker dream.